That Paris Flame

For perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, a room without a scented candle is a room without life.

- Jane Larkworthy

“Fragrance gives identity to a space,” he says. “A candle gives it a soul.” So it’s no surprise that Kurkdjian is introducing Homes Sweet Homes, a collection of five candles based on the olfactory memories of his formative spaces. Witness fragrances inspired by the bountiful garden that bordered his parents’ house near Paris (Rue des Groseilliers); the abundance of lavender, rosemary, and hay surrounding an aunt and uncle’s barn-turned–country house near Le Perche (La Trouverie); the pine-and-salt air of his family’s sea side cottage on the outskirts of Bordeaux (Les Tamaris)—each encased in a signature discreet white ceramic vessel.

The most personal of these may be Anouche, a candle whose rose petal–and-plum scent was inspired by jams from his grand parents’ place in Château de Vincennes, where he lived as a teen.

“My parents’ house was kind of turbulent at the time, so I moved out when I was 17,” explains the 48-year-old, who grew up studying ballet, then shifted his focus to scent at the age of 15. He founded his eponymous company in 2009. “Grandparents love you for who you are and don’t try to make you be someone else,” he says.